Program supports military students Published Oct. 14, 2011 By Dawn Beal School Liason Officer and Teresa Sprague Loy Elementary School Principal MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- Loy Elementary School and North Middle School were awarded a 3-year, $675,000 grant by the Department of Defense to develop a support program to help the military families involved within the schools. Transitional Resource Opportunities Offered to Parents and Students is a grant designed to minimize the negative impact on students' education due to their parent's high mobility and deployment rates, and to support the entire family in social, emotional and academic areas. Loy Elementary School serves 389 students, of which 90.84 percent are military dependents, and North Middle School serves 731 students, of which 16.87 percent are military dependents; TROOPS will provide mentoring, support groups, after-school homework assistance, and staff and parent education to these students and their families. After gaining a first-hand look into Malmstrom Air Force Base through a tour of the base, Teresa Sprague, Loy Elementary School principal, and other staff members expressed how informative the opportunity was to learn more about where their students live and the lifestyle of a military dependent. This kind of background information is to be paired with several other staff training opportunities through TROOPS. Dawn Beal, School Liaison Officer, will also help inform teachers about the military and the unique needs of all military family members. This training will equip educators and staff members with the tools necessary to support military families as they transition through an ever changing and challenging military career. Each school was able to hire personnel to develop and implement the components of this grant. North Middle School hired Steve Yates as the Student Services Advocate. Both Loy and North share Jessica Gonzales as their Support Specialist. Loy has also added Kelly Silva in the position of Student Services Advocate and Traci Roberts as an instructional tutor. All of the TROOPS staff members bring personal experiences and affiliation with the military, which enriches the program and provides a unique perspective. These individuals can be contacted any time to find out more about this program and enroll students throughout the year. All new families to Loy Elementary were contacted by Silva to welcome them and find out areas where they may need assistance. Surveys were also sent home with all students to determine specific areas of need as the after-school program was developed. The first session began Sept. 12 and will run for four weeks on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:20-4:15 p.m. for kindergarten through 3rd grade. Throughout the rest of the school year, sessions will be offered in consecutive 4-week sessions for all grade levels. "We hope every student at Loy takes the opportunity to participate in this program," Sprague said. Support systems offered to the families and students will help acclimate students and decrease their sense of isolation. Some of these programs include: · A peer mentoring program to help ease transitions · A deployment counseling group to allow students to express feelings within a supportive peer network and develop coping strategies · An after-school program, which provides a combination of academic and social/emotional support to include opportunities to make crafts or videos to send to deployed parents, study foreign languages of places they lived or are relocating to and other activities that will help ease transitions Parental involvement will be crucial to their children's sense of well-being and to the success of the program. Workshops and other training opportunities will be offered to parents throughout the school year. For more information on the TROOPS program, contact Dawn Beal at 731-4900, Kelly Silva at 268-6902 or Steve Yates at 268-6539.